Dragon Boat Racing started in China over 2000 years ago. Traditional Festivals commemorate the death of the poet Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in the 3rd century BC in protest against a corrupt King. Legends are that the local fishermen loved Qu Yuan so tried rescuing him by beating drums and splashing the water with their paddles to stop the fish from eating him and to scare away the evil spirits.
Dragon boating today is celebrated at festivals and regattas all over the world. The boats are adorned with a colourful dragon head and tail which represents the Chinese Dragon believed to be a ruler of rivers and seas. The ritual is also meant to avert calamity, drive away evil spirits and encourage rainfall, which is needed for good harvests.
The long canoe shaped boats are propelled through the water by 20 paddlers (sitting 2 abreast), 1 drummer to keep time and 1 sweep (or steersperson) to keep it on course.
The great thing about our sport is that all paddlers are equal, each paddler contributes to moving the boat forward. You can be any age, any fitness and have no skills at first and still be a very important member of the team. We have paddlers on our team and our sister team (the Redcliffe Red Dragons) aged from 12 to 70 plus!!
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